Crystal Radiance
by KHLostEmpress
Summary: Modern Fantasy Tale: Sora's 16th birthday didn't go as planned. Starting off with a strange dream, it ended with him unconscious. Not to mention all that happened in between. Embroiled in a 1000 year old legend, he must save the girl and defeat the bad guy before he wipes out two worlds. The story ended in tragedy once before; is history doomed to repeat itself? Sleeping Beauty


Author's Notes: Modern Fantasy Tale- Sleeping Beauty

So, I posted this once before and wasn't really happy with the story. So, I took it down to kind of redo it, not to mention, I saw all the blaring plot holes that were about the been thrown in my face. So, here I am, trying again. The prologue is short, and chapters will be longer (my average is 3000 words; I typically post nothing unless it is at least 3000 words).

* * *

Wide, bright lavender blue eyes peeked around a corner and lit up with mirth as a small giggle escaped the tiny pink lips. Neither her mother nor her uncle were within sight. Kairi, recently turned four years old Princess of Ethra, had successfully escaped the nursery. Now that she had, she decided that exploring was definitely in order, even though she didn't really know where she was. Besides the nursery, she'd only really been to her mother's and her uncle's rooms inside the palace.

Everyone was _always_ telling her it wasn't safe to wander around by herself. Kairi didn't believe them. Radiant Garden, especially the Palace, was the safest place in the whole world, and no one would ever hurt her because she was the princess. Even if there was a war going on. She didn't really understand what a war was exactly, but she did know it wasn't safe. And Kairi knew she didn't like it because it made her daddy leave. The last time she'd seen him had been when she was two, and that was _ages_ ago. Sometimes, she even had to look at his picture to remember what he looked like, and that made her really sad.

With quick and light butterfly steps, Kairi fluttered down the empty hallway. All she knew was that she was following The Thing. She didn't know what The Thing was, but for her whole life she'd always felt it. It moved often and never stayed in the same place long during the day, but she'd always had the desire to go to where The Thing was. So, that was what she was following now. She giggled into her hands; Kairi knew she was getting closer to The Thing. A door led her into a ground floor outer hallway with wide open windows. If Kairi stood on her tiptoes and pulled herself up, she could barely manage to see over the sill to view the garden beyond.

A grin lit up her face. Kairi could only remember a few times where her mother or uncle had taken her outside to the gardens. Most of the time, she had to be satisfied with looking at them through the windows. She looked further down the hallway and spotted the large archway that would let her out onto the grass. Excitedly, she realized The Thing was out there. She'd really liked seeing the flowers when she had gone out to be around them, and Kairi would love to see them again.

Kairi glanced back the way she'd come and, finding no one behind her, took off at a sprint for the doorway. So focused on finding The Thing, she skipped past the flowers of all colors, telling herself that she would come back as soon as she found it. The trail led her to a small group of trees, and she heard the voice of a boy from inside them. "...fall and break your neck, I'm not helping."

Another's boy's voice, lighter and somehow more playful, laughed out a reply. "Come on, Riku. It's fun!" Peeking around a tree trunk, Kairi saw two boys about her own age. The older one, a boy with white hair hanging to the bottom of his ears, stood on the ground with his arms folded across his chest. The other boy was hanging upside down on one of the lowest branches of the tree, so Kairi couldn't tell if his brown hair spiked like that naturally or not. She did realize that whatever had been leading her ended where the boys were. Did that mean that one of them had The Thing? Deciding that she had better go find out, Kairi took off to talk to them, only to trip over a tree root and fall to her hands and knees with an oomph.

Stunned for a brief moment, she heard something else hit the ground before a second later, small hands were helping her up. "Geez, are you okay?" When she looked up at the light voice, she found it was the brown-haired boy and that his hair was indeed just like that—spiked up all over the place. The white-haired boy—what had he called him? Riku?—was not far behind. If she had been a little older, she might have wondered how the boy, who had been hanging from a tree, beat the boy on the ground to her side, but the only thing her young mind focused on was the fact that the pull that had so defined her whole life disappeared the moment the boy had touched her. Which lead Kairi to only one conclusion.

"You're The Thing!" she exclaimed excitedly.

His reaction was not what she was expecting. His face, which had been smiling until now even when it had displayed the concern over her fall, turned down into a frown with his bottom lip jutting out in a pout. Riku, on the other hand, started to laugh, falling onto the ground as he gripped his stomach. Kairi didn't see why what she said was funny. The boy turned to his friend and hissed, "Shut up, Riku!" He folded his arms tight across his chest as he gave Kairi a glare. "I'm not a thing. I'm Sora."

_Sora_. The name repeated itself in Kairi's mind, cementing its place in her memory. The pull to him returned the moment his hands left her. "But your _My_ Thing, too," she iterated. She brushed the grass off her palms and knees as she spoke. While her palms and knees stung a little, her happiness of finding The Thing—_Sora_—outweighed the pain (not to mention that she found no grass stains on her clothes; her nanny hated when she got her clothes dirty). She flashed a brilliant smile at him, but Sora just looked confused. "I've been wanting to see you for forever."

"I'm not a thing," Sora muttered quietly. He looked at Riku, seeking the support of his friend.

On the other hand, Riku was looking at Kairi. "What do you mean? You wanted to see Sora?"

With an air of her own confusion, Kairi stared at him. "Can't you feel it? I've always felt it. Where Sora is. My Thing. Though I didn't know it was him. Mama and Uncle Ven never let me find it before."

And Riku suddenly looked like he knew exactly what she was talking about. "Who are you?"

"Oh!" Kairi exclaimed. She should have introduced herself a long time ago. Her nanny would say that it was the proper thing for a princess to do. Dipping into a semblance of the curtsy her nanny was trying to teach her, she said, "Hello. I am Kairi, Princess of Ethra. It's nice to meet you." Proud of herself for getting the words right, Kairi beamed at the two boys.

Sora's bright blue eyes lit up in excitement, and for the first time, Kairi noticed that they were the same color as Uncle Ven's eyes. But...different, too. She wasn't sure how; they just were. He fairly bounced back to her and gripped her hands. Kairi was startled but still noted that once again his touch caused the pull to disappear again. "You're the princess? That's so cool! Is your dad the King? He's fighting the war, right? That's where our dad is. He said he had to help the king fight the bad guy."

A hand rested on the boy's shoulder. "Sora, stop."

The grin that filled Sora's face as he rubbed the back of his head was definitely sheepish. "Sorry." His other hand joined the first as the boy stood in a relaxed position with both hands behind his head.

"Anyway, I'm Riku and this is my idiot younger brother, Sora," the other boy said as he rubbed a hand in Sora's spiked hair. There was a teasing glint in his eye as he smiled fondly at the younger boy. However, that did not stop the indignant exclamation of 'hey!' from Sora as he pushed the older boy's hand away. Kairi giggled happily—she never got to spend any time with kids her age. Most of the time, she only had her nanny and three guards with her. She didn't even get to see Mama and Uncle Ven very much. And when Riku started to walk away, still laughing, for a brief moment, Kairi had the fear that she was about to be left alone.

But a warm hand, already so familiar to the young princess, took her own hand and tugged lightly. Sora smiled brightly at her, which Kairi could not help but return. "You are going to play with us, right?" he asked as he tugged her arm gently.

So filling was her happiness, Kairi could not find her voice and could only nod in reply. She let the boy guide her behind his brother as they seeked out another part of the garden to explore. Flowers could hardly compare to her newfound friends.


End file.
